The Relic swung her gaze up to a dolphin clock on the wall. “You weren’t supposed to be here for another hour.”
“I like to be fashionably early.”
The Relic gave the group an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, everyone. We have to cut our session short today.”
The thin man with the orange light frowned. “But I was making progress.”
A round gentleman with a black mustache stood up and chortled. “Progress in burning this house down.”
“You’re just jealous because you haven’t been able to get your light up in months.”
Mr. Mustache narrowed his eyes at the man.
The woman clapped her hands as if she were a teacher getting the attention of her rowdy children. “Let’s continue this next week. I’ll stretch out the session to three hours. How’s that?”
A light flurry of murmurs overlapped as everyone collected their purses and jackets. Gem guiltily sidled over to the windows and tried to look invisible as the people filed into the stairwell. She slurped on her milkshake and studied each person, wondering what was wrong with them.
Before leaving, the scrawny guy swung his arm up to the ceiling and released a snap of orange light.
“Andy, that’s enough,” the woman scolded. “You can practice at home, but do it outside like we discussed. You did really well today. You’re making progress.”
He beamed as he disappeared around the corner.
The Relic’s black dress swished as she made her way over and offered Gem a welcoming smile. “I’m Marilyn Rothchild, but you can call me Mary.” She smelled like gardenias. Her green eye shadow didn’t match her pumpkin-colored lipstick, but Gem admired her individuality.
“Gem Laroux.”
Mary went back to the group of chairs and started folding them and lining them up against the wall.
Gem set her milkshake on the floor and helped. “I’m sorry I barged in. I didn’t know you were a teacher.”
Mary stacked another chair beneath a large abstract painting. “I’m more of a specialist.”
“Oh? What do you do exactly?”
Relics often took on clients and stayed within families for generations. They worked as therapists, healers, scholars, and sometimes teachers.
“Come have a seat.” Mary had left two chairs open, and she sat down in one. “I specialize in energy disorders. Not every Mage is blessed with functional light, as you just saw. Some will never reach their full potential. Their disabilities require a certain level of focus that their Creators just can’t provide them. That’s where I come in.”
Gem collected her drink and took the seat across from Mary. “Like that man earlier with the orange light?”
Mary played with the rings on her fingers. “Yes. Andy’s light burns hot and erratic. When he first came to me, all he could make were tiny little sparks from his fingertips. He’ll never be a fully functioning Mage, but I think he’ll be able to harness his energy with practice. It’ll always be that color, but that’s just a superficial defect. Every Mage needs to learn how to protect himself.”
“So you’re a light specialist.”
Mary tilted her head. “Exactly. Viktor made me aware that you have a unique situation that I might be able to help with. Would you like to tell me about what ails you?”
“Oh, it’s… it’s not me.” Gem stumbled over her words as she searched for an explanation that wouldn’t give away important details. “The other night, a friend of ours fell unconscious. He hasn’t woken up.”
Mary moved a bangle on her arm. “Does this have to do with the light show?”
“The what?”
Mary arched an eyebrow and gave her a skeptical look. “The entire world is buzzing about it. Where have you been?”
Gem crossed her legs. “I spend a lot of time in my library. We don’t live in the city, so it’s not like I’m in contact with people all the time. Then this thing happened to my friend, and I’ve been busy taking care of him.”
Mary seemed to have a way of reading between the lines. Gem knew it had to do with her line of work and all the people she dealt with in her therapy sessions. She could probably tell Gem was being evasive, but instead of calling her out on it, she let Gem do all the talking.
“He won’t wake up. I think something happened to his energy. I tried giving him healing light, but nothing worked.” After taking a small sip, Gem set her milkshake on the floor. “Viktor said you might be able to help.”
“What an interesting quandary.” Mary crossed her ankles, drawing Gem’s attention down to her strappy black heels. Tiny white stones in the fabric sparkled like diamonds. “Well, from what I know, every Mage had what I might speculate was a collective power surge. Relics were networking and trying to share information about what our clients had experienced.” Her eyebrows drew together, her expression serious. “A friend of mine from Turkey said he had a client with a similar condition to your friend’s. According to the victim’s companion, his light continued to glow after the surge had ended. He then collapsed in the middle of the street on his way to work. The last I heard, he was still in that condition. Several of the most experienced Relics in the field have shared information, but no one has ever seen anything like this before.”
Gem gathered her fear and locked it away. She’d never considered all the other men Artemon had enslaved. Niko had never detailed how many there were, only that his Creator was building himself an army. Many had probably died over the years, but the realization that there were innocent men and women out there who were also caught in this spell horrified her. This wasn’t just about Niko anymore.
“Would you mind if I had your friend’s name?” Mary asked. “I’d like to compare notes.”
Gem shook her head. “I can’t give you that if Viktor hasn’t. We’re a private organization. Something like that is highly confidential.”
“Understood. Without giving any information on his name or your group, could I simply relay that there’s another? We thought it was an isolated case, but if there are more, this is something we need to remember so we can pass the knowledge on to our children.”
Gem shrugged. “I don’t think it would do any good. I can’t give you anything else. I just want to know how to wake him up. Do you have any ideas?”
Mary uncrossed her ankles and shifted to one side. “Without knowing the cause, I can only speculate. I think what might have happened is a reverse surge. When everyone else’s light went out, your friend’s energy exhibited signs of moving in the other direction.” She looked toward the windows and shrugged. “I guess you could compare it to a short circuit. It’s possible that the overload impacted the electrical impulses in his brain. Humans have all kinds of tests that can reveal active and inactive parts of the brain based on energy, but it’s something Relics have always known. Perhaps the channels were overloaded, like a traffic jam. It was more than he could handle, so his brain shut down as a protective measure. Kind of like the vasovagal syncope that happens when there’s a malfunction in your nervous system. It’s what changes your blood pressure and heart rate, causing you to faint.”